Psalms 11:1

Psalm 11 ¹ 

For the music director; by David.

11:1 In the Lord I have taken shelter. ² 

How can you say to me, ³ 

“Flee to a mountain like a bird! ⁴ 

Psalms 1:1

Book 1
(Psalms 1-41)

Psalm 1 ⁵ 

1:1 How blessed ⁶  is the one ⁷  who does not follow ⁸  the advice ⁹  of the wicked, ¹⁰ 

or stand in the pathway ¹¹  with sinners,

or sit in the assembly ¹²  of scoffers! ¹³ 

Psalms 31:1-24

Psalm 31 ¹⁴ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

31:1 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter!

Never let me be humiliated!

Vindicate me by rescuing me! ¹⁵ 

31:2 Listen to me! ¹⁶ 

Quickly deliver me!

Be my protector and refuge, ¹⁷ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ¹⁸ 

31:3 For you are my high ridge ¹⁹  and my stronghold;

for the sake of your own reputation ²⁰  you lead me and guide me. ²¹ 

31:4 You will free me ²²  from the net they hid for me,

for you are my place of refuge.

31:5 Into your hand I entrust my life; ²³ 

you will rescue ²⁴  me, O Lord, the faithful God.

31:6 I hate those who serve worthless idols, ²⁵ 

but I trust in the Lord.

31:7 I will be happy and rejoice in your faithfulness,

because you notice my pain

and you are aware of how distressed I am. ²⁶ 

31:8 You do not deliver me over to the power of the enemy;

you enable me to stand ²⁷  in a wide open place.

31:9 Have mercy on me, for I am in distress!

My eyes grow dim ²⁸  from suffering. ²⁹ 

I have lost my strength. ³⁰ 

31:10 For my life nears its end in pain;

my years draw to a close as I groan. ³¹ 

My strength fails me because of ³²  my sin,

and my bones become brittle. ³³ 

31:11 Because of all my enemies, people disdain me; ³⁴ 

my neighbors are appalled by my suffering ³⁵  –

those who know me are horrified by my condition; ³⁶ 

those who see me in the street run away from me.

31:12 I am forgotten, like a dead man no one thinks about; ³⁷ 

I am regarded as worthless, like a broken jar. ³⁸ 

31:13 For I hear what so many are saying, ³⁹ 

the terrifying news that comes from every direction. ⁴⁰ 

When they plot together against me,

they figure out how they can take my life.

31:14 But I trust in you, O Lord!

I declare, “You are my God!”

31:15 You determine my destiny! ⁴¹ 

Rescue me from the power of my enemies and those who chase me.

31:16 Smile ⁴²  on your servant!

Deliver me because of your faithfulness!

31:17 O Lord, do not let me be humiliated,

for I call out to you!

May evil men be humiliated!

May they go wailing to the grave! ⁴³ 

31:18 May lying lips be silenced –

lips ⁴⁴  that speak defiantly against the innocent ⁴⁵ 

with arrogance and contempt!

31:19 How great is your favor, ⁴⁶ 

which you store up for your loyal followers! ⁴⁷ 

In plain sight of everyone you bestow it on those who take shelter ⁴⁸  in you. ⁴⁹ 

31:20 You hide them with you, where they are safe from the attacks ⁵⁰  of men; ⁵¹ 

you conceal them in a shelter, where they are safe from slanderous attacks. ⁵² 

31:21 The Lord deserves praise ⁵³ 

for he demonstrated his amazing faithfulness to me when I was besieged by enemies. ⁵⁴ 

31:22 I jumped to conclusions and said, ⁵⁵ 

“I am cut off from your presence!” ⁵⁶ 

But you heard my plea for mercy when I cried out to you for help.

31:23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers ⁵⁷  of his!

The Lord protects those who have integrity,

but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly. ⁵⁸ 

31:24 Be strong and confident, ⁵⁹ 

all you who wait on the Lord!

[11:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 11. The psalmist rejects the advice to flee from his dangerous enemies. Instead he affirms his confidence in God’s just character and calls down judgment on evildoers.

[11:1]  ² tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[11:1]  ³ tn The pronominal suffix attached to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is equivalent to a personal pronoun. See Ps 6:3.

[11:1]  ⁴ tc The MT is corrupt here. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads: “flee [masculine plural!] to your [masculine plural!] mountain, bird.” The Qere (marginal reading) has “flee” in a feminine singular form, agreeing grammatically with the addressee, the feminine noun “bird.” Rather than being a second masculine plural pronominal suffix, the ending כֶם- (-khem) attached to “mountain” is better interpreted as a second feminine singular pronominal suffix followed by an enclitic mem (ם). “Bird” may be taken as vocative (“O bird”) or as an adverbial accusative of manner (“like a bird”). Either way, the psalmist’s advisers compare him to a helpless bird whose only option in the face of danger is to fly away to an inaccessible place.

[1:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 1. In this wisdom psalm the author advises his audience to reject the lifestyle of the wicked and to be loyal to God. The psalmist contrasts the destiny of the wicked with that of the righteous, emphasizing that the wicked are eventually destroyed while the godly prosper under the Lord’s protective care.

[1:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see v. 3; Pss 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[1:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” (Generic “he” is employed in vv. 2-3). Since the godly man described in the psalm is representative of followers of God (note the plural form צַדִּיקִים [tsadiqim, “righteous, godly”] in vv. 5-6), one could translate the collective singular with the plural “those” both here and in vv. 2-3, where singular pronouns and verbal forms are utilized in the Hebrew text (cf. NRSV). However, here the singular form may emphasize that godly individuals are usually outnumbered by the wicked. Retaining the singular allows the translation to retain this emphasis.

[1:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “walk in.” The three perfect verbal forms in v. 1 refer in this context to characteristic behavior. The sequence “walk–stand–sit” envisions a progression from relatively casual association with the wicked to complete identification with them.

[1:1]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew noun translated “advice” most often refers to the “counsel” or “advice” one receives from others. To “walk in the advice of the wicked” means to allow their evil advice to impact and determine one’s behavior.

[1:1]  ¹⁰ tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21).

[1:1]  ¹¹ tn “Pathway” here refers to the lifestyle of sinners. To “stand in the pathway of/with sinners” means to closely associate with them in their sinful behavior.

[1:1]  ¹² tn Here the Hebrew term מוֹשַׁב (moshav), although often translated “seat” (cf. NEB, NIV), appears to refer to the whole assembly of evildoers. The word also carries the semantic nuance “assembly” in Ps 107:32, where it is in synonymous parallelism with קָהָל (qahal, “assembly”).

[1:1]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew word refers to arrogant individuals (Prov 21:24) who love conflict (Prov 22:10) and vociferously reject wisdom and correction (Prov 1:22; 9:7-8; 13:1; 15:12). To “sit in the assembly” of such people means to completely identify with them in their proud, sinful plans and behavior.

[31:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 31. The psalmist confidently asks the Lord to protect him. Enemies threaten him and even his friends have abandoned him, but he looks to the Lord for vindication. In vv. 19-24, which were apparently written after the Lord answered the prayer of vv. 1-18, the psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him.

[31:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me.”

[31:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[31:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.”

[31:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.”

[31:3]  ¹⁷ sn The metaphor of the high ridge pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.

[31:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “name.” The Hebrew term שֵׁם (shem, “name”) refers here to the Lord’s reputation. (The English term “name” is often used the same way.)

[31:3]  ¹⁹ tn The present translation assumes that the imperfect verbal forms are generalizing, “you lead me and guide me.” Other options are to take them as an expression of confidence about the future, “you will lead me and guide me” (cf. NASB), or as expressing a prayer, “lead me and guide me” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[31:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “bring me out.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form expresses the psalmist’s confidence about the future. Another option is to take the form as expressing a prayer, “free me.”

[31:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my spirit.” The noun רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) here refers to the animating spirit that gives the psalmist life.

[31:5]  ²⁶ tn Or “redeem.” The perfect verbal form is understood here as anticipatory, indicating rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer that he can describe his deliverance as if it had already happened. Another option is to take the perfect as precative, expressing a wish or request (“rescue me”; cf. NIV). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[31:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the ones who observe vain things of falsehood.” See Jonah 2:9.

[31:7]  ³³ tn Heb “you know the distresses of my life.”

[31:8]  ³⁷ tn Heb “you cause my feet to stand.”

[31:9]  ⁴¹ tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”

[31:9]  ⁴² tn Cf. Ps 6:7, which has a similar line.

[31:9]  ⁴³ tn Heb “my breath and my stomach [grow weak].” Apparently the verb in the previous line (“grow dim, be weakened”) is to be understood here. The Hebrew term נפשׁ can mean “life,” or, more specifically, “throat, breath.” The psalmist seems to be lamenting that his breathing is impaired because of the physical and emotional suffering he is forced to endure.

[31:10]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and my years in groaning.”

[31:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “stumbles in.”

[31:10]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “grow weak.”

[31:11]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “because of all my enemies I am a reproach.”

[31:11]  ⁵⁰ tc Heb “and to my neighbors, exceedingly.” If the MT is retained, then these words probably go with what precedes. However the syntactical awkwardness of the text suggests it is textually corrupt. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 258) suggests that the initial mem (מ) on מְאֹד (me’od, “exceedingly”) be understood as an enclitic mem (ם) which was originally suffixed to the preceding form and then later misinterpreted. The resulting form אֵד (’ed) can then be taken as a defectively written form of אֵיד (’ed, “calamity”). If one follows this emendation, then the text reads literally, “and to my neighbors [I am one who experiences] calamity.” The noun פַחַד (fakhad, “[object of] horror”) occurs in the next line; אֵיד and פַחַד appear in parallelism elsewhere (see Prov 1:26-27).

[31:11]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “and [an object of ] horror to those known by me.”

[31:12]  ⁵³ tn Heb “I am forgotten, like a dead man, from [the] heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the center of one’s thoughts.

[31:12]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “I am like a broken jar.” One throws away a broken jar without a second thought because it is considered worthless and useless.

[31:13]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “the report of many.”

[31:13]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “the terror from all around.”

[31:15]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “in your hand [are] my times.”

[31:16]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “cause your face to shine.”

[31:17]  ⁶⁹ tn The verb יִדְּמוּ (yiddÿmu) is understood as a form of דָּמַם (damam, “wail, lament”). Another option is to take the verb from דָּמַם (“be quiet”; see BDB 198-99 s.v. I דָּמַם), in which case one might translate, “May they lie silent in the grave.”

[31:18]  ⁷³ tn Heb “the [ones which].”

[31:18]  ⁷⁴ tn Or “godly.”

[31:19]  ⁷⁷ tn Or “How abundant are your blessings!”

[31:19]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “for those who fear you.”

[31:19]  ⁷⁹ tn “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 2:12; 5:11-12; 34:21-22).

[31:19]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “you work [your favor] for the ones seeking shelter in you before the sons of men.”

[31:20]  ⁸¹ tn The noun רֹכֶס (rokhes) occurs only here. Its meaning is debated; some suggest “snare,” while others propose “slander” or “conspiracy.”

[31:20]  ⁸² tn Heb “you hide them in the hiding place of your face from the attacks of man.” The imperfect verbal forms in this verse draw attention to God’s typical treatment of the faithful.

[31:20]  ⁸³ tn Heb “you conceal them in a shelter from the strife of tongues.”

[31:21]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”

[31:21]  ⁸⁶ tn Heb “for he caused his faithfulness to be amazing to me in a besieged city.” The psalmist probably speaks figuratively here. He compares his crisis to being trapped in a besieged city, but the Lord answered his prayer for help. Verses 19-24 were apparently written after the Lord answered the prayer of vv. 1-18.

[31:22]  ⁸⁹ tn Heb “and I, I said in my haste.”

[31:22]  ⁹⁰ tn Heb “from before your eyes.”

[31:23]  ⁹³ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[31:23]  ⁹⁴ tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.

[31:24]  ⁹⁷ tn Heb “be strong and let your heart[s] be confident.”